Re: Right to Reparation for Victims of Serious Crimes Committed in the Kasai Region
In terms of transitional justice, a State which has been unable to protect its civilian populations in times of armed conflict has a moral and political obligation to set up programs which offer reparation to the victims of serious and flagrant human rights violations. man.
Concerning the crimes committed in the Kasai region, the Government of the Republic is still dragging its feet in offering reparations to the many victims, in order to alleviate their suffering and heal their wounds.
In the meantime, the SCED welcomes private initiatives, in terms of interim reparations offered by the PANZI Foundation. Indeed, after having granted 470 survivors of sexual violence linked to the Kamuina Nsapu conflict from the Christ Roi Mulombodi Church camp individual economic assistance kits in 2021, it has just laid, this Wednesday, August 31, 2022, the first stone for the construction of the community center for survivors in Ntambue Saint Bernard.
While congratulating this precious initiative of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Denis Mukwege, which falls within the framework of collective reparations, the SCED urges the Congolese Parliament to prioritize during the September 2022 session the adoption of the bill setting the fundamental principles relating to reparations and the protection of victims of sexual violence linked to armed conflicts and other international crimes.
In the meantime, everything passes, except the mocking painful legacy of the deep wounds of many victims.
Kananga, August 31, 2022
The CEO,
President Dominique KAMBALA NKONGOLO
